In a first-of-its kind case, a Washington state attorney has filed suit on behalf of two Microsoft employees who were exposed to disturbing and abhorrent content, all a part of the conditions of their work at Microsoft as commercial content moderators (CCM). According to the article reported in the McClatchy syndicate of newspapers, the two… Continue reading Microsoft sued by Commercial Content Moderators (#CCM) in first-of-its-kind case
Tag: labor
WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US
After many months of anticipation, journalist Adrian Chen's piece on commercial content moderation as practiced in BPO (business process outsourcing) sites in the Philippines is out in WIRED magazine today. In it, Chen focuses on the employees of a US firm, TaskUs, whose employees are laboring on behalf of Silicon Valley social media startup Whisper and… Continue reading WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US
Steven Salaita: The University of Illinois Is Not an Island
Dear Chancellor Wise: It is with shock and great sadness that I write to you today, upon learning that you have rescinded a faculty position for Dr. Steven Salaita, intended to begin in just days. I will keep my comments brief, as I have little doubt that you are receiving a number of communiqués related… Continue reading Steven Salaita: The University of Illinois Is Not an Island
Exciting CFP: DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES, the New School, NYC, NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014
Call for Proposals DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES To be held at The New School, a university in New York City NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014 #dl14 The third in The New School's Politics of Digital Culture Conference Series Sponsored by The New School and The Institute for Distributed Creativity Digital Labor: The Internet as… Continue reading Exciting CFP: DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES, the New School, NYC, NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014
The Trouble with “Ethics”
If you are an employee of a higher education institution, you can likely set your watch by it: the dread annual ethics test. Usually presented as a self-paced, online "learning module," the test is designed, ostensibly, to measure your ability to deal with complex workplace situations. Some of the situations require use of your best… Continue reading The Trouble with “Ethics”
Obscurity through Transparency: Facebook releases infographic that reveals little – by design?
As reported by Reuters and picked up in the Huffington Post, Facebook today released a confusing infographic ostensibly designed to shed light on the cryptic route that reported content takes through the company's circuit of screening. According to the company, content flagged as inappropriate, for any one of myriad reasons, makes its way to "...staffers… Continue reading Obscurity through Transparency: Facebook releases infographic that reveals little – by design?
Social Media’s Dirty Work: Contextualizing the Facebook Screening Controversy
In the past few days my inbox has seen an influx in forwards from friends and colleagues, all sharing links with me covering the recent revelation that Facebook outsources some of its dirtiest work, and that those firms handling Facebook's outsourced labor pay exploitatively low wages for some of the most psychologically damaging digital work… Continue reading Social Media’s Dirty Work: Contextualizing the Facebook Screening Controversy